La señalización purinérgica como modulador de la neurogénesis posnatal y adulta

Abstract

Neurogenesis is defined as the generation of new functional neurons from neural stem cells(NSCs). These cells have the theorical capacity to generate all glial and neuronal cell types of the nervous system and to self-renew an indefinite number of times without losing their phenotype and ability to differentiate (Gage, 2000, Weissman et al., 2001). By the end of embryonic development most of the neurons of the Central Nervous System (CNS) are formed. However, the process of neurogenesis continues in both the posnatal and adult stages. Several studies have tried to identify the behavior of NSCs along their lineage progression to give rise to the different neural populations as well as to elucidate the molecular mechanisms that govern the process of neurogenesis. However, still many questions remain to be answered. Highlighted among them are: i) To what extent are NSCs dependent on intrinsic programs and/or signals from their neurogenic niche when generating their corresponding neural lineages? ii) Is an NSC capable of giving rise to the three neuralline ages (astrocytes, oligodendrocytes and neurons) or, conversely, does it exhibit restrictions in the choice of its cell fate? iii) What are the signaling pathways involved in the regulation of the process of neurogenesis? In the present work we aim to answer some of these questions analysing the involvement of nucleotide-mediated signaling in the behavior of NSCs from two neurogenic niches: the posnatal cerebellum and the adult subependy malzone (SEZ)...